August 11, 2001; Sturgeon Bay, WI. - The Door County Speedway hosted a big racing program in conjunction with the 2001 Door County Fair which produced three first time winners Saturday night.
The Street Stock division took to the track first with Marty Bielke taking the initial lead, but B.J. Soquet flew by on lap 2 and left the field behind. Gary Reinhardt, Von Eytcheson and David Baenen were right behind. Jeff Vlies led the charge from the middle of the pack brining Kevin Sternard, Corey Haen and Aaron Thornton along. At the mid point, Soquet enjoyed a ¼ lap lead when Sternard broke through into the runner up spot and started to clip away at the leaders margin. The field stayed pretty close to Sternard, and Thornton moved into third on lap 13. Soquet set the same quick pace to the finish as he claimed his first feature win of the season. Thornton caught Sternard at the line for the second place finish with Sternard third. Eytcheson took fourth with Ed Anschutz, coming from the back of the field after winning the consy, took fifth. Jeff Vlies rounded out the top six. Bill LeMieux jumped from the front row into the lead of the modified main with Scott Derenne, Tom McCormick, Shawn Olson, Tony Herbst and Doug Maurer behind. LeMieux continued to lead the way as the field battle right behind for position. A spin on lap 10 bunched the field on the leader but LeMieux set the pace again. Maurer moved by Olson into the runner up spot with McCormick George Henkel, Herbst, Randy LeMieux and Randie Back behind. Henkel moved into second on lap 12 and on lap 15, found the outside line quick enough to take over the lead. On lap 16, a final caution lowed the pace again and set the stage for a tight 4 lap dash to the finish. Back took the outside line to take the top spot from Henkel on the restart. LeMieux would not be denied and took the high line himself to re-take the lead on lap 19. He held off Back and Henkel in a close finish to win his first career modified feature. Back was second and Henkel third. Point leader, Todd Dart, came through the consy and worked through traffic to place fourth in the race to maintain an slim 4 point margin over Henkel. McCormick and Dan Ratajczak, rounded out the top six. The Stock Car division continued their tradition of close exciting racing and thrilled the large fair crowd. Kerry Douglas set the pace for the first lap before Erik VanIten took over, Troy Rass, Dave Bouche, Pat Davister, Don Aregoni, Jr and Benji LaCrosse bunched behind. Bouche worked into the top spot on lap 8 and continued to lead through the two cautions of the race on laps 9 and 14. The final 6 laps were any bodies race with Bouche still leading the way. VanIten, Davister, LaCrosse and Aregoni under a blanket right behind. On lap 17, Davister found the opening he needed to sneak into the lead. He dropped low and left the outside line open, which VanIten and LaCrosse used. VanIten pulled even with the leader for 2 lap and as the white appeared inched ahead. The pair stayed side by side and crosses almost in a dead heat, but VanIten scored his first feature win of the season here by inched over Davister. Bouche was right behind with LaCrosse alongside scored in fourth. Douglas took fifth and Jason Geyer was in the sixth place car. Point leader, Craig Paque worked from the back into a seventh place finish, to hold a slim 5 point margin over defending champ, LaCrosse. Cautions plagued the Bomber nightcap, but 7 laps were run before track curfew ended the program. Shawn Graf set the pace for the first 3 laps when Brad Ohnesorge took over. Ryan LeMieux moved into the runner up spot one lap later. Maynard Hegnet and Ford Malvitz moved into the top four and the foursome pulled away from the pack. After a lap 6 caution, LeMieux was able to sneak inside and took the lead. One lap later, Ricky Sternard made contact with another car and the back guard rail and ended up on his side. He was not injured but the incident ended the race with LeMieux winning his first career feature event. Ohnesorge was second, Hegnet third and Malvitz fourth. Jody Annoye and Wayne Moore rounded out the top six. SUMMARY IMCA MODIFIED IMCA STOCK CAR STREET STOCK BOMBER |
